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In 1991, Aaron Race began therapy with a counselor associated with his local chapter of the Mormon Evergreen International ex-gay organization. At the time, he fantasized about men but had not slept with them. The counselor told him to pray more, play sports and sing hymns in his head. There were also "gender" lessons, Race recalls.

"I was told to cross my legs a certain way, with the crotch area open, not with my leg over the knee, which is considered somewhat effeminate," Race remembers.

When the feelings didn't go away, Race's Evergreen counselor had him try hypnosis and then aversion therapy. "When I had sexual thoughts, they would tell me to try to imagine the other person has maggot wounds in their skin, or KS spots," Race remembers. When the gay thoughts still didn't stop, the counselor recommended electroshock treatment, but Race refused and was excommunicated from the church. As he left, church elders questioned him about sexual practices, including fisting, sadomasochism and rimming, he says.

"They knew a lot more about gay sex than I did, and they wanted to know all the details," Race says. "To this day, it still boggles me."

Evergreen executive director Dave Pruden says he was outraged and "saddened" by the abusive treatment Race suffered. Evergreen is an umbrella group with no direct control over local affiliates, he said. "If that person had called me, I would have taken the therapist's name and personally reported him to the licensing board," Pruden says.